Tag: portrait

  • The incredible lightness of being

    One of the hardest things to do in portraiture is to catch the essence of a person. Features are bad enough, but to actually catch personality is the trick that everyone who ever painted a portrait is wanting to do. I have been very fortunate in my life to know people of all ages, and…

  • All smiles

    On a roll after painting Theresa yesterday, I painted another face. I was fortunate to have gotten the reference photo, taken in natural light, which is the most important consideration for a painted portrait. The smile is one of the most ubiquitous facial poses we see, but it is the hardest to paint. Smiles are…

  • Glowing Motherhood

    Needing to get back to painting some portraits, I picked some of my favorite people to paint. When I start a portrait, it’s always scary because I don’t know it it’s going to turn out ok or not. I usually draw my subject more than once, to get to know the lines in their face.…

  • Another Acrylic portrait painted in the style of Chris Crites

    Once again I return to this method of painting a face. This is a portrait of my heart side, a man I recently became reacquainted with. This painting method is incredibly useful for learning a face. It helps me see midtones and shadow, and keeps me from painting with the left side of my brain.…

  • A portrait of Brian down under

    Every year for 4 years I have participated in a portrait swap via Wetcanvas.com’s portrait forum. This year I got a guy in Australia who had never painted a portrait before. I really liked his face. It looked like he lived through a lot, and even though he was smiling, he looked a little sad.